Noun | 1. | cartilage - tough elastic tissue; mostly converted to bone in adults animal tissue - the tissue in the bodies of animals collagen - a fibrous scleroprotein in bone and cartilage and tendon and other connective tissue; yields gelatin on boiling meniscus, semilunar cartilage - (anatomy) a disk of cartilage that serves as a cushion between the ends of bones that meet at a joint fibrocartilage - cartilage that is largely composed of fibers like those in ordinary connective tissue hyaline cartilage - translucent cartilage that is common in joints and the respiratory passages; forms most of the fetal skeleton arytaenoid, arytenoid, arytenoid cartilage - either of two small cartilages at the back of the larynx to which the vocal folds are attached thyroid cartilage, Adam's apple - the largest cartilage of the larynx cartilaginous structure - body structure given shape by cartilage ground substance, intercellular substance, matrix - the body substance in which tissue cells are embedded |